“Do you still put coins in your ear?” I texted a friend with a photo of my ear holding a quarter. “I do especially to hold a quarter for a grocery cart. Very convenient! HA HA HA!” I continued.

“Why coin in the ear? Never did. Too dirty.” She replied.

“You never did? It was very common.” I answered quizzically since it appeared to be a common occurrence while growing up in the Philippines “Dirty? If you don’t clean your ears and I clean mine every day” I added.

“Never, never, never.”

“I am exploiting an organ that God gave me.”

“Really” She texted back without a specific punctuation mark.

We then switched to texting about different ingredients found in the grocery store where I was shopping.